Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

Current Employment Statistics - CES (National)

Employment Situation News Release

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed USDL-11-0809
until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, June 3, 2011
Technical information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 * cesinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/ces
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- MAY 2011
Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+54,000) in May, and the unemployment
rate was essentially unchanged at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Job gains continued in professional and business services, health
care, and mining. Employment levels in other major private-sector industries were
little changed, and local government employment continued to decline.
Household Survey Data
The number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.1
percent) were essentially unchanged in May. The labor force, at 153.7 million, was
little changed over the month. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.9 percent),
adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (24.2 percent), whites (8.0 percent), blacks
(16.2 percent), and Hispanics (11.9 percent) showed little or no change in May. The
jobless rate for Asians was 7.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1,
A-2, and A-3.)
In May, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over)
increased by 361,000 to 6.2 million; their share of unemployment increased to 45.1
percent. (See table A-12.)
The civilian labor force participation rate was 64.2 percent for the fifth
consecutive month. The employment-population ratio remained at 58.4 percent in
May. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred
to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged in May at 8.5
million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut
back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
In May, 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, about the
same as a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals
were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for
a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because
they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
(See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 822,000 discouraged workers in May, a
decrease of 261,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.)
Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe
no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached
to the labor force in May had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the
survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See
table A-16.)
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in May (+54,000), following gains
that averaged 220,000 in the prior 3 months. Private-sector employment continued to
trend up (+83,000), although by a much smaller amount than the average for the prior
3 months (+244,000). In May, job gains occurred in professional and business services,
health care, and mining. Local government employment continued to trend down. Employment
in other major industries changed little over the month. (See table B-1.)
Employment in professional and business services continued to increase in May (+44,000).
Notable job gains occurred in accounting and bookkeeping services (+18,000) and in
computer systems design and related services (+8,000). Employment in temporary help
services was little changed.
Health care employment continued to expand in May (+17,000). Employment in the industry
had risen by an average of 24,000 per month over the prior 12 months.
Mining added 7,000 jobs in May. Employment in mining has risen by 115,000 since a recent
low point in October 2009.
Employment in manufacturing changed little in May (-5,000). Job gains in fabricated metal
products and in machinery were offset by losses in transportation equipment, paper and
paper products, and printing and related support activities. The manufacturing industry
added 243,000 jobs from a recent low point in December 2009 through April 2011.
Construction employment was essentially unchanged in May. Employment in the industry
has shown little movement on net since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during
the 2007-09 period.
Employment in local government continued to decline over the month (-28,000). Local
government has lost 446,000 jobs since an employment peak in September 2008.
Employment in other major industries, including retail trade, transportation and
warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality, changed
little in May.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 34.4 hours
in May. The manufacturing workweek for all employees increased by 0.2 hour to 40.6 hours
over the month, while factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours. The average workweek
for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 33.6 hours
in May. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)
In May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased
by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $22.98. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings
increased by 1.8 percent. In May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production
and nonsupervisory employees rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $19.43. (See tables B-3
and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised from +221,000 to
+194,000, and the change for April was revised from +244,000 to +232,000.
___________
The Employment Situation for June is scheduled to be released on Friday, July 8, 2011,
at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

HOUSEHOLD DATA Summary table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted

[Numbers in thousands]

Category

May2010

Mar.2011

Apr.2011

May2011

Change from:Apr.2011-May2011

Employment status

Civilian noninstitutional population

237,499

239,000

239,146

239,313

167

Civilian labor force

154,237

153,406

153,421

153,693

272

Participation rate

64.9

64.2

64.2

64.2

0.0

Employed

139,353

139,864

139,674

139,779

105

Employment-population ratio

58.7

58.5

58.4

58.4

0.0

Unemployed

14,884

13,542

13,747

13,914

167

Unemployment rate

9.6

8.8

9.0

9.1

0.1

Not in labor force

83,262

85,594

85,725

85,620

-105

Unemployment rates

Total, 16 years and over

9.6

8.8

9.0

9.1

0.1

Adult men (20 years and over)

9.8

8.6

8.8

8.9

0.1

Adult women (20 years and over)

8.1

7.7

7.9

8.0

0.1

Teenagers (16 to 19 years)

26.4

24.5

24.9

24.2

-0.7

White

8.8

7.9

8.0

8.0

0.0

Black or African American

15.5

15.5

16.1

16.2

0.1

Asian (not seasonally adjusted)

7.5

7.1

6.4

7.0

-

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity

12.4

11.3

11.8

11.9

0.1

Total, 25 years and over

8.3

7.4

7.6

7.8

0.2

Less than a high school diploma

14.9

13.7

14.6

14.7

0.1

High school graduates, no college

10.8

9.5

9.7

9.5

-0.2

Some college or associate degree

8.3

7.4

7.5

8.0

0.5

Bachelor's degree and higher

4.6

4.4

4.5

4.5

0.0

Reason for unemployment

Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs

9,194

8,209

8,144

8,274

130

Job leavers

966

896

942

908

-34

Reentrants

3,430

3,262

3,375

3,433

58

New entrants

1,192

1,360

1,346

1,231

-115

Duration of unemployment

Less than 5 weeks

2,763

2,449

2,691

2,664

-27

5 to 14 weeks

3,060

2,914

2,907

2,892

-15

15 to 26 weeks

2,174

1,957

2,006

1,984

-22

27 weeks and over

6,710

6,122

5,839

6,200

361

Employed persons at work part time

Part time for economic reasons

8,776

8,433

8,600

8,548

-52

Slack work or business conditions

6,141

5,595

5,689

5,834

145

Could only find part-time work

2,299

2,332

2,480

2,473

-7

Part time for noneconomic reasons

17,977

18,417

18,282

18,468

186

Persons not in the labor force (not seasonally adjusted)

Marginally attached to the labor force

2,223

2,434

2,466

2,206

-

Discouraged workers

1,083

921

989

822

-

- Over-the-month changes are not displayed for not seasonally adjusted data.
NOTE: Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Footnotes(1) Includes other industries, not shown separately.(2) Data relate to production employees in mining and logging and manufacturing, construction employees in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in the service-providing industries.(3) The indexes of aggregate weekly hours are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate hours by the corresponding annual average aggregate hours.(4) The indexes of aggregate weekly payrolls are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate weekly payrolls by the corresponding annual average aggregate weekly payrolls.(5) Figures are the percent of industries with employment increasing plus one-half of the industries with unchanged employment, where 50 percent indicates an equal balance between industries with increasing and decreasing employment.(p) Preliminary

Frequently Asked Questions about Employment and Unemployment Estimates
Why are there two monthly measures of employment?
The household survey and establishment survey both produce sample-based estimates
of employment and both have strengths and limitations. The establishment survey
employment series has a smaller margin of error on the measurement of month-to-
month change than the household survey because of its much larger sample size. An
over-the-month employment change of about 100,000 is statistically significant in
the establishment survey, while the threshold for a statistically significant
change in the household survey is about 400,000. However, the household survey has
a more expansive scope than the establishment survey because it includes the self-
employed, unpaid family workers, agricultural workers, and private household workers,
who are excluded by the establishment survey. The household survey also provides
estimates of employment for demographic groups.
Are undocumented immigrants counted in the surveys?
It is likely that both surveys include at least some undocumented immigrants. However,
neither the establishment nor the household survey is designed to identify the legal
status of workers. Therefore, it is not possible to determine how many are counted in
either survey. The establishment survey does not collect data on the legal status of
workers. The household survey does include questions which identify the foreign and
native born, but it does not include questions about the legal status of the foreign
born.
Why does the establishment survey have revisions?
The establishment survey revises published estimates to improve its data series by
incorporating additional information that was not available at the time of the
initial publication of the estimates. The establishment survey revises its initial
monthly estimates twice, in the immediately succeeding 2 months, to incorporate
additional sample receipts from respondents in the survey and recalculated seasonal
adjustment factors. For more information on the monthly revisions, please visit
www.bls.gov/ces/cesrevinfo.htm.
On an annual basis, the establishment survey incorporates a benchmark revision that
re-anchors estimates to nearly complete employment counts available from unemployment
insurance tax records. The benchmark helps to control for sampling and modeling errors
in the estimates. For more information on the annual benchmark revision, please visit
www.bls.gov/web/cesbmart.htm.
Does the establishment survey sample include small firms?
Yes; about 40 percent of the establishment survey sample is comprised of business
establishments with fewer than 20 employees. The establishment survey sample is
designed to maximize the reliability of the total nonfarm employment estimate; firms
from all size classes and industries are appropriately sampled to achieve that goal.
Does the establishment survey account for employment from new businesses?
Yes; monthly establishment survey estimates include an adjustment to account for
the net employment change generated by business births and deaths. The adjustment
comes from an econometric model that forecasts the monthly net jobs impact of
business births and deaths based on the actual past values of the net impact that
can be observed with a lag from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. The
establishment survey uses modeling rather than sampling for this purpose because the
survey is not immediately able to bring new businesses into the sample. There is an
unavoidable lag between the birth of a new firm and its appearance on the sampling
frame and availability for selection. BLS adds new businesses to the survey twice a
year.
Is the count of unemployed persons limited to just those people receiving
unemployment insurance benefits?
No; the estimate of unemployment is based on a monthly sample survey of households.
All persons who are without jobs and are actively seeking and available to work
are included among the unemployed. (People on temporary layoff are included even if
they do not actively seek work.) There is no requirement or question relating to
unemployment insurance benefits in the monthly survey.
Does the official unemployment rate exclude people who have stopped
looking for work?
Yes; however, there are separate estimates of persons outside the labor force who
want a job, including those who have stopped looking because they believe no jobs
are available (discouraged workers). In addition, alternative measures of labor
underutilization (some of which include discouraged workers and other groups not
officially counted as unemployed) are published each month in The Employment
Situation news release.
How can unusually severe weather affect employment and hours estimates?
In the establishment survey, the reference period is the pay period that includes
the 12th of the month. Unusually severe weather is more likely to have an impact
on average weekly hours than on employment. Average weekly hours are estimated for
paid time during the pay period, including pay for holidays, sick leave, or other
time off. The impact of severe weather on hours estimates typically, but not always,
results in a reduction in average weekly hours. For example, some employees may be
off work for part of the pay period and not receive pay for the time missed, while
some workers, such as those dealing with cleanup or repair, may work extra hours.
In order for severe weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll employment,
employees have to be off work without pay for the entire pay period. About half of
all employees in the payroll survey have a 2-week, semi-monthly, or monthly pay
period. Employees who receive pay for any part of the pay period, even 1 hour, are
counted in the payroll employment figures. It is not possible to quantify the effect
of extreme weather on estimates of employment from the establishment survey.
In the household survey, the reference period is generally the calendar week that
includes the 12th of the month. Persons who miss the entire week’s work for weather-
related events are counted as employed whether or not they are paid for the time off.
The household survey collects data on the number of persons who usually work full
time but had reduced hours, or had a job but were not at work due to bad weather.
Current and historical data are available on the household survey’s most requested
statistics page at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln.

Technical Note
This news release presents statistics from two major surveys, the
Current Population Survey (household survey) and the Current Employment
Statistics survey (establishment survey). The household survey provides
information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment that appears
in the "A" tables, marked HOUSEHOLD DATA. It is a sample survey of about
60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The establishment survey provides information on employment, hours,
and earnings of employees on nonfarm payrolls; the data appear in the
"B" tables, marked ESTABLISHMENT DATA. BLS collects these data each
month from the payroll records of a sample of nonagricultural business
establishments. The sample includes about 140,000 businesses and government
agencies representing approximately 440,000 worksites and is drawn from a
sampling frame of roughly 9 million unemployment insurance tax accounts.
The active sample includes approximately one-third of all nonfarm payroll
employees.
For both surveys, the data for a given month relate to a particular week
or pay period. In the household survey, the reference period is generally
the calendar week that contains the 12th day of the month. In the establishment
survey, the reference period is the pay period including the 12th, which
may or may not correspond directly to the calendar week.
Coverage, definitions, and differences between surveys
Household survey. The sample is selected to reflect the entire
civilian noninstitutional population. Based on responses to a series
of questions on work and job search activities, each person 16 years
and over in a sample household is classified as employed, unemployed,
or not in the labor force.
People are classified as employed if they did any work at all as paid
employees during the reference week; worked in their own business,
profession, or on their own farm; or worked without pay at least 15
hours in a family business or farm. People are also counted as employed
if they were temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness, bad
weather, vacation, labor-management disputes, or personal reasons.
People are classified as unemployed if they meet all of the following
criteria: they had no employment during the reference week; they were
available for work at that time; and they made specific efforts to find
employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference
week. Persons laid off from a job and expecting recall need not be
looking for work to be counted as unemployed. The unemployment data
derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility
for or receipt of unemployment insurance benefits.
The civilian labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons.
Those not classified as employed or unemployed are not in the labor
force. The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a percent of
the labor force. The labor force participation rate is the labor force
as a percent of the population, and the employment-population ratio is
the employed as a percent of the population. Additional information about
the household survey can be found at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.
Establishment survey. The sample establishments are drawn from private
nonfarm businesses such as factories, offices, and stores, as well as
from federal, state, and local government entities. Employees on nonfarm
payrolls are those who received pay for any part of the reference pay
period, including persons on paid leave. Persons are counted in each job
they hold. Hours and earnings data are produced for the private sector
for all employees and for production and nonsupervisory employees.
Production and nonsupervisory employees are defined as production and
related employees in manufacturing and mining and logging, construction
workers in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in private service-
providing industries.
Industries are classified on the basis of an establishment’s principal
activity in accordance with the 2007 version of the North American Industry
Classification System. Additional information about the establishment survey
can be found at www.bls.gov/ces/#technical.
Differences in employment estimates. The numerous conceptual and
methodological differences between the household and establishment
surveys result in important distinctions in the employment estimates
derived from the surveys. Among these are:
--The household survey includes agricultural workers, the self-
employed, unpaid family workers, and private household workers
among the employed. These groups are excluded from the
establishment survey.
--The household survey includes people on unpaid leave among the
employed. The establishment survey does not.
--The household survey is limited to workers 16 years of age and
older. The establishment survey is not limited by age.
--The household survey has no duplication of individuals, because
individuals are counted only once, even if they hold more than one
job. In the establishment survey, employees working at more than
one job and thus appearing on more than one payroll are counted
separately for each appearance.
Seasonal adjustment
Over the course of a year, the size of the nation's labor force and
the levels of employment and unemployment undergo regularly occurring
fluctuations. These events may result from seasonal changes in weather,
major holidays, and the opening and closing of schools. The effect of
such seasonal variation can be very large.
Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern
each year, their influence on the level of a series can be tempered by
adjusting for regular seasonal variation. These adjustments make
nonseasonal developments, such as declines in employment or increases
in the participation of women in the labor force, easier to spot. For
example, in the household survey, the large number of youth entering
the labor force each June is likely to obscure any other changes that
have taken place relative to May, making it difficult to determine if
the level of economic activity has risen or declined. Similarly, in
the establishment survey, payroll employment in education declines by
about 20 percent at the end of the spring term and later rises with
the start of the fall term, obscuring the underlying employment trends
in the industry. Because seasonal employment changes at the end and
beginning of the school year can be estimated, the statistics can be
adjusted to make underlying employment patterns more discernable. The
seasonally adjusted figures provide a more useful tool with which to
analyze changes in month-to-month economic activity.
Many seasonally adjusted series are independently adjusted in both
the household and establishment surveys. However, the adjusted series
for many major estimates, such as total payroll employment, employment
in most major sectors, total employment, and unemployment are computed
by aggregating independently adjusted component series. For example,
total unemployment is derived by summing the adjusted series for four
major age-sex components; this differs from the unemployment estimate
that would be obtained by directly adjusting the total or by combining
the duration, reasons, or more detailed age categories.
For both the household and establishment surveys, a concurrent
seasonal adjustment methodology is used in which new seasonal factors
are calculated each month using all relevant data, up to and including
the data for the current month. In the household survey, new seasonal
factors are used to adjust only the current month's data. In the
establishment survey, however, new seasonal factors are used each month
to adjust the three most recent monthly estimates. The prior 2 months
are routinely revised to incorporate additional sample reports and
recalculated seasonal adjustment factors. In both surveys, 5-year revisions
to historical data are made once a year.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the household and establishment surveys are
subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample rather
than the entire population is surveyed, there is a chance that the
sample estimates may differ from the "true" population values they
represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies depending
on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured by
the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance,
or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ
by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value
because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the
90-percent level of confidence.
For example, the confidence interval for the monthly change in
total nonfarm employment from the establishment survey is on the order
of plus or minus 100,000. Suppose the estimate of nonfarm employment
increases by 50,000 from one month to the next. The 90-percent confidence
interval on the monthly change would range from -50,000 to +150,000
(50,000 +/- 100,000). These figures do not mean that the sample results
are off by these magnitudes, but rather that there is about a 90-percent
chance that the "true" over-the-month change lies within this interval.
Since this range includes values of less than zero, we could not say with
confidence that nonfarm employment had, in fact, increased that month.
If, however, the reported nonfarm employment rise was 250,000, then all
of the values within the 90-percent confidence interval would be greater
than zero. In this case, it is likely (at least a 90-percent chance) that
nonfarm employment had, in fact, risen that month. At an unemployment rate
of around 5.5 percent, the 90-percent confidence interval for the monthly
change in unemployment as measured by the household survey is about
+/- 280,000, and for the monthly change in the unemployment rate it is
about +/-0.19 percentage point.
In general, estimates involving many individuals or establishments
have lower standard errors (relative to the size of the estimate) than
estimates which are based on a small number of observations. The precision
of estimates also is improved when the data are cumulated over time, such
as for quarterly and annual averages.
The household and establishment surveys are also affected by
nonsampling error, which can occur for many reasons, including the failure
to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information
for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of
respondents to provide correct information on a timely basis, mistakes
made by respondents, and errors made in the collection or processing of
the data.
For example, in the establishment survey, estimates for the most
recent 2 months are based on incomplete returns; for this reason, these
estimates are labeled preliminary in the tables. It is only after two
successive revisions to a monthly estimate, when nearly all sample
reports have been received, that the estimate is considered final.
Another major source of nonsampling error in the establishment survey
is the inability to capture, on a timely basis, employment generated by
new firms. To correct for this systematic underestimation of employment
growth, an estimation procedure with two components is used to account
for business births. The first component excludes employment losses from
business deaths from sample-based estimation in order to offset the
missing employment gains from business births. This is incorporated into
the sample-based estimation procedure by simply not reflecting sample
units going out of business, but imputing to them the same employment
trend as the other firms in the sample. This procedure accounts for most
of the net birth/death employment.
The second component is an ARIMA time series model designed to estimate
the residual net birth/death employment not accounted for by the
imputation. The historical time series used to create and test the ARIMA
model was derived from the unemployment insurance universe micro-level
database, and reflects the actual residual net of births and deaths over
the past 5 years.
The sample-based estimates from the establishment survey are adjusted
once a year (on a lagged basis) to universe counts of payroll employment
obtained from administrative records of the unemployment insurance program.
The difference between the March sample-based employment estimates and
the March universe counts is known as a benchmark revision, and serves as
a rough proxy for total survey error. The new benchmarks also incorporate
changes in the classification of industries. Over the past decade, absolute
benchmark revisions for total nonfarm employment have averaged 0.3 percent,
with a range from -0.7 to 0.6 percent.
Other information
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay
Service: (800) 877-8339.

HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-1. Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age

Footnotes(1) The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation; therefore, identical numbers appear in the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted columns.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Estimates for the above race groups will not sum to totals shown in table A-1 because data are not presented for all races. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-3. Employment status of the Hispanic or Latino population by sex and age

Footnotes(1) Includes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent.(2) Includes persons with bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.

NOTE: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-5. Employment status of the civilian population 18 years and over by veteran status, period of service, and sex, not seasonally adjusted

[Numbers in thousands]

Employment status, veteran status, and period of service

Total

Men

Women

May2010

May2011

May2010

May2011

May2010

May2011

VETERANS, 18 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population

22,060

21,664

20,275

19,864

1,785

1,800

Civilian labor force

11,862

11,421

10,754

10,316

1,108

1,105

Participation rate

53.8

52.7

53.0

51.9

62.1

61.4

Employed

10,938

10,477

9,914

9,457

1,023

1,020

Employment-population ratio

49.6

48.4

48.9

47.6

57.3

56.7

Unemployed

924

944

839

859

85

85

Unemployment rate

7.8

8.3

7.8

8.3

7.7

7.7

Not in labor force

10,198

10,243

9,521

9,548

677

695

Gulf War-era II veterans

Civilian noninstitutional population

2,130

2,394

1,755

1,984

374

409

Civilian labor force

1,734

1,923

1,471

1,647

263

276

Participation rate

81.4

80.3

83.8

83.0

70.2

67.3

Employed

1,550

1,691

1,327

1,435

223

256

Employment-population ratio

72.8

70.6

75.6

72.3

59.6

62.4

Unemployed

185

232

145

212

40

20

Unemployment rate

10.6

12.1

9.8

12.9

15.2

7.3

Not in labor force

395

471

284

337

111

134

Gulf War-era I veterans

Civilian noninstitutional population

2,949

2,850

2,507

2,420

442

430

Civilian labor force

2,575

2,374

2,226

2,073

349

301

Participation rate

87.3

83.3

88.8

85.7

79.0

70.1

Employed

2,400

2,207

2,068

1,929

331

278

Employment-population ratio

81.4

77.5

82.5

79.7

74.9

64.8

Unemployed

175

167

157

144

18

23

Unemployment rate

6.8

7.0

7.1

6.9

5.1

7.5

Not in labor force

374

476

281

347

93

129

World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam-era veterans

Civilian noninstitutional population

11,058

10,470

10,684

10,139

374

331

Civilian labor force

4,013

3,605

3,905

3,480

108

124

Participation rate

36.3

34.4

36.5

34.3

28.9

37.6

Employed

3,732

3,337

3,625

3,223

106

114

Employment-population ratio

33.7

31.9

33.9

31.8

28.4

34.5

Unemployed

281

267

280

257

2

10

Unemployment rate

7.0

7.4

7.2

7.4

1.6

8.1

Not in labor force

7,045

6,866

6,779

6,659

266

207

Veterans of other service periods

Civilian noninstitutional population

5,923

5,950

5,329

5,320

595

630

Civilian labor force

3,540

3,519

3,152

3,115

388

404

Participation rate

59.8

59.1

59.1

58.6

65.3

64.1

Employed

3,257

3,242

2,894

2,870

363

372

Employment-population ratio

55.0

54.5

54.3

53.9

61.0

59.0

Unemployed

283

278

258

245

25

32

Unemployment rate

8.0

7.9

8.2

7.9

6.5

8.0

Not in labor force

2,384

2,431

2,177

2,205

207

226

NONVETERANS, 18 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population

206,485

209,119

90,168

91,916

116,317

117,203

Civilian labor force

140,032

140,321

70,298

70,803

69,734

69,517

Participation rate

67.8

67.1

78.0

77.0

60.0

59.3

Employed

127,183

128,348

63,198

64,405

63,985

63,943

Employment-population ratio

61.6

61.4

70.1

70.1

55.0

54.6

Unemployed

12,849

11,973

7,100

6,398

5,749

5,574

Unemployment rate

9.2

8.5

10.1

9.0

8.2

8.0

Not in labor force

66,453

68,799

19,870

21,113

46,583

47,686

NOTE: Veterans served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and were not on active duty at the time of the survey. Nonveterans never served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. Veterans could have served anywhere in the world during these periods of service: Gulf War era II (September 2001-present), Gulf War era I (August 1990-August 2001), Vietnam era (August 1964-April 1975), Korean War (July 1950-January 1955), World War II (December 1941-December 1946), and other service periods (all other time periods). Veterans who served in more than one wartime period are classified only in the most recent one. Veterans who served during one of the selected wartime periods and another period are classified only in the wartime period. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-6. Employment status of the civilian population by sex, age, and disability status, not seasonally adjusted

[Numbers in thousands]

Employment status, sex, and age

Persons with a disability

Persons with no disability

May2010

May2011

May2010

May2011

TOTAL, 16 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population

26,547

27,669

210,952

211,644

Civilian labor force

5,930

5,828

147,936

147,621

Participation rate

22.3

21.1

70.1

69.7

Employed

5,060

4,917

134,437

135,111

Employment-population ratio

19.1

17.8

63.7

63.8

Unemployed

870

911

13,499

12,510

Unemployment rate

14.7

15.6

9.1

8.5

Not in labor force

20,617

21,841

63,016

64,024

Men, 16 to 64 years

Civilian labor force

2,729

2,682

75,601

75,258

Participation rate

37.5

35.3

83.1

82.5

Employed

2,282

2,218

68,019

68,474

Employment-population ratio

31.3

29.2

74.7

75.1

Unemployed

448

464

7,582

6,784

Unemployment rate

16.4

17.3

10.0

9.0

Not in labor force

4,555

4,911

15,399

15,948

Women, 16 to 64 years

Civilian labor force

2,381

2,280

66,472

66,109

Participation rate

30.9

29.2

71.5

70.9

Employed

2,052

1,919

60,856

60,748

Employment-population ratio

26.6

24.6

65.5

65.2

Unemployed

330

360

5,616

5,361

Unemployment rate

13.8

15.8

8.4

8.1

Not in labor force

5,321

5,531

26,452

27,107

Both sexes, 65 years and over

Civilian labor force

820

867

5,862

6,254

Participation rate

7.1

7.1

21.7

23.0

Employed

727

780

5,561

5,889

Employment-population ratio

6.3

6.4

20.6

21.6

Unemployed

93

87

301

365

Unemployment rate

11.3

10.0

5.1

5.8

Not in labor force

10,741

11,399

21,166

20,969

NOTE: A person with a disability has at least one of the following conditions: is deaf or has serious difficulty hearing; is blind or has serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses; has serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition; has serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs; has difficulty dressing or bathing; or has difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor's office or shopping because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-7. Employment status of the civilian population by nativity and sex, not seasonally adjusted

[Numbers in thousands]

Employment status and nativity

Total

Men

Women

May2010

May2011

May2010

May2011

May2010

May2011

Foreign born, 16 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population

35,647

36,348

17,901

18,200

17,746

18,149

Civilian labor force

24,210

24,253

14,339

14,511

9,871

9,741

Participation rate

67.9

66.7

80.1

79.7

55.6

53.7

Employed

22,125

22,216

13,088

13,333

9,037

8,883

Employment-population ratio

62.1

61.1

73.1

73.3

50.9

48.9

Unemployed

2,085

2,037

1,251

1,178

835

859

Unemployment rate

8.6

8.4

8.7

8.1

8.5

8.8

Not in labor force

11,437

12,095

3,562

3,688

7,875

8,407

Native born, 16 years and over

Civilian noninstitutional population

201,852

202,965

97,100

97,957

104,753

105,008

Civilian labor force

129,656

129,196

67,689

67,445

61,967

61,751

Participation rate

64.2

63.7

69.7

68.9

59.2

58.8

Employed

117,372

117,812

60,688

61,108

56,684

56,704

Employment-population ratio

58.1

58.0

62.5

62.4

54.1

54.0

Unemployed

12,284

11,384

7,001

6,337

5,282

5,047

Unemployment rate

9.5

8.8

10.3

9.4

8.5

8.2

Not in labor force

72,196

73,769

29,410

30,512

42,786

43,257

NOTE: The foreign born are those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. That is, they were born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam, to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen. The native born are persons who were born in the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam or who were born abroad of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Footnotes(1) Includes self-employed workers whose businesses are incorporated.(2) Refers to those who worked 1 to 34 hours during the survey reference week and excludes employed persons who were absent from their jobs for the entire week.(3) Refers to those who worked 1 to 34 hours during the reference week for an economic reason such as slack work or unfavorable business conditions, inability to find full-time work, or seasonal declines in demand.(4) Refers to persons who usually work part time for noneconomic reasons such as childcare problems, family or personal obligations, school or training, retirement or Social Security limits on earnings, and other reasons. This excludes persons who usually work full time but worked only 1 to 34 hours during the reference week for reasons such as vacations, holidays, illness, and bad weather.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Footnotes(1) Employed full-time workers are persons who usually work 35 hours or more per week.(2) Employed part-time workers are persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Footnotes(1) Not seasonally adjusted.(2) Full-time workers are unemployed persons who have expressed a desire to work full time (35 hours or more per week) or are on layoff from full-time jobs.(3) Part-time workers are unemployed persons who have expressed a desire to work part time (less than 35 hours per week) or are on layoff from part-time jobs.

NOTE: Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Footnotes(1) Persons with no previous work experience and persons whose last job was in the U.S. Armed Forces are included in the unemployed total.

NOTE: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Effective with January 2011 data, occupations reflect the introduction of the 2010 Census occupational classification system into the Current Population Survey, or household survey. This classification system is derived from the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). No historical data have been revised. Data for 2011 are not strictly comparable with earlier years.

U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force

10.6

10.1

10.0

10.9

10.7

10.5

10.3

10.4

10.3

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force

16.1

15.5

15.4

16.5

16.1

15.9

15.7

15.9

15.8

NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-16. Persons not in the labor force and multiple jobholders by sex, not seasonally adjusted

Footnotes(1) Data refer to persons who want a job, have searched for work during the prior 12 months, and were available to take a job during the reference week, but had not looked for work in the past 4 weeks.(2) Includes those who did not actively look for work in the prior 4 weeks for reasons such as thinks no work available, could not find work, lacks schooling or training, employer thinks too young or old, and other types of discrimination.(3) Includes those who did not actively look for work in the prior 4 weeks for such reasons as school or family responsibilities, ill health, and transportation problems, as well as a number for whom reason for nonparticipation was not determined.(4) Includes a small number of persons who work part time on their primary job and full time on their secondary job(s), not shown separately.

NOTE: Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Footnotes(1) The indexes of aggregate weekly hours are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate hours by the corresponding 2007 annual average aggregate hours. Aggregate hours estimates are the product of estimates of average weekly hours and employment.(2) The indexes of aggregate weekly payrolls are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate weekly payrolls by the corresponding 2007 annual average aggregate weekly payrolls. Aggregate payrolls estimates are the product of estimates of average hourly earnings, average weekly hours, and employment.(p) Preliminary

Footnotes(1) Data relate to production employees in mining and logging and manufacturing, construction employees in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in the service-providing industries. These groups account for approximately four-fifths of the total employment on private nonfarm payrolls.(p) Preliminary

ESTABLISHMENT DATA Table B-7. Average weekly hours and overtime of production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted(1)

Footnotes(1) Data relate to production employees in mining and logging and manufacturing, construction employees in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in the service-providing industries. These groups account for approximately four-fifths of the total employment on private nonfarm payrolls.(p) Preliminary

ESTABLISHMENT DATA Table B-8. Average hourly and weekly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted(1)

Footnotes(1) Data relate to production employees in mining and logging and manufacturing, construction employees in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in the service-providing industries. These groups account for approximately four-fifths of the total employment on private nonfarm payrolls.(p) Preliminary

Footnotes(1) Data relate to production employees in mining and logging and manufacturing, construction employees in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in the service-providing industries. These groups account for approximately four-fifths of the total employment on private nonfarm payrolls.(2) The indexes of aggregate weekly hours are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate hours by the corresponding 2002 annual average aggregate hours. Aggregate hours estimates are the product of estimates of average weekly hours and employment.(3) The indexes of aggregate weekly payrolls are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate weekly payrolls by the corresponding 2002 annual average aggregate weekly payrolls. Aggregate payrolls estimates are the product of estimates of average hourly earnings, average weekly hours, and employment.(p) Preliminary